Monday, 6 May 2013

Working against the clock

I've had a few Cinderella moments of late. Not the beautiful transformation type, but the striving to make an impression before a deadline. We've all experienced this at some point; that essay you pulled an all nighter for because it was in at 9am the following morning, that ridiculous fad diet you went on in an attempt to lose half a stone before your beach holiday. I spent my entire Sunday exasperating, trying to perfect an original piece of writing I was itching to submitt to Grazia magazine's writing competition.

By twelve o'clock at night I was near drowning in a sea of metaphors and similes, exhausted by the emotion I had poured into the story, but driven by the deadline of the next day. Without any fairy godmother magic I substituted fairy dust for bottomless cups of coffee and a plethora of Easter chocolates which I had previously resisted (diet starts tomorrow?).

Clicking the send button to submit my application was more satisfying than waking up early for work and then realising it's a bank holiday. Though I'm usually more of the overly organised type, working against the clock was exhilarating. I realised that a looming deadline should be seen as a challenge rather than a noose. It can help us to knuckle down and take that much needed, 'now or never approach'. So try not to panic if you find yourself in a race against time, just be determined, give it your best shot and try not to leave your shoes behind.